Growing a business is hard. So often it seems like a chaotic journey of hard decision after hard decision with periods of intense focused execution in between. Early in my career I learned that hard decisions become much easier once you have a strategic framework in place to guide those decisions. The structure and clarity a framework provides often immediately eliminates half the options on the table and simplifies the process of evaluating the other half.
Scaling Up by Verne Harnish is all about structure and clarity, but takes the benefits well beyond a strategic framework. The book is organized around four categories of decisions that leaders must address: people, strategy, execution, and cash. The four sections covering those four types of decisions all start with a collection of tools helpful in making those decisions. In the intro to the book Harnish says “we’ve learned that CEOs and executives of growth firms want ideas and tools they can implement immediately to improve some aspect of their business”.
In short, Scaling Up provides tools you can use immediately for whatever hard decision your company is facing today.